TD Cowen Cuts Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) Price Target to $17.00

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Free Report) had its price objective lowered by TD Cowen from $21.00 to $17.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on UTZ. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lowered their price target on Utz Brands from $24.00 to $21.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $20.80.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

UTZ stock traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $14.16. The company had a trading volume of 1,946,638 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,108,588. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $16.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -74.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Utz Brands has a one year low of $13.46 and a one year high of $20.04.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. Utz Brands had a negative net margin of 0.99% and a positive return on equity of 7.25%. The firm had revenue of $365.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.17 EPS. Utz Brands's revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Utz Brands will post 0.74 EPS for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.061 dividend. This is a positive change from Utz Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Utz Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -126.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 2,815,404 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.29, for a total transaction of $48,678,335.16. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 496,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,576,497.02. The trade was a 85.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Cary Devore sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.32, for a total value of $519,600.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 451,117 shares in the company, valued at $7,813,346.44. The trade was a 6.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 37,155 shares of the company's stock valued at $618,000 after buying an additional 2,802 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Utz Brands by 3.6% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 99,286 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 3,466 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in Utz Brands by 20.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 24,209 shares of the company's stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 4,176 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Utz Brands by 11.6% in the third quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 40,176 shares of the company's stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 4,182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in Utz Brands by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 441,396 shares of the company's stock worth $7,345,000 after purchasing an additional 4,550 shares during the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Utz Brands

Utz Brands, Inc engages in manufacture, marketing, and distribution of snack foods. It offers a range of salty snacks, including salty snacks, including potato chips, tortilla chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, pork skins, veggie snacks, pub/party mixes, tortilla chips, salsa and dips, ready-to-eat popcorn, and other snacks under the Utz, Zapp's, ON THE BORDER, Golden Flake, Boulder Canyon, Hawaiian, TORTIYAHS!, etc.